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Get to know this plant.
Identification clue 1
Scale foliage on flattened sprays
Identification clue 2
Fibrous bark
Identification clue 3
Rounded woody seed cones
Read the leaves
Closely overlapping scales form feathery sprays. Many cultivated cypresses are similar, so avoid naming the hybrid from foliage alone.
More growing details
Read the bark
Gray-brown bark becomes fibrous and shallowly furrowed.
Fruit & seed
Round woody cones have shield-like scales; cone production varies among plants.
Winter character
Evergreen sprays help narrow the cypress group when other trees are bare.
Origin & place
An introduced garden species or horticultural hybrid; study it as part of WNC landscapes rather than assume it belongs to the native mountain flora.
Compare with Arborvitae
Arborvitae cones are usually elongated with overlapping scales; Leyland cones are rounded with shield-like scales.
WNC Notes
Rapid screen but canker, bagworms, ice, crowding, and ultimate size create high long-term risk.
Sun Exposure
Full sun
MATURE HEIGHT (FT)
50–70
MATURE WIDTH (FT)
12–20
BLOOM SEASON
Spring
BLOOM COLOR
Inconspicuous
FALL / WINTER COLOR
Evergreen
Wet-Soil Tolerance
Moderate
Drought Tolerance
Moderate